


Love at Second Sight

by Severina



Category: True Blood
Genre: Community: getyourwordsout, Community: tv-universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 07:38:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8881669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severina/pseuds/Severina
Summary: When Sookie suggests a little vacation, she's thinking the beach. Eric has something a little chillier in mind.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ's tv_universe's "holiday weather" challenge, and for GYWO Bingo for the photo prompt (just pretend Sookie is seeing the place in the winter, mmmkay?)
> 
> The photo prompt:
> 
> [ ](http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Severina2001/media/gywo%20bingo/12%20veretian%20house_zpszk6z8axn.jpg.html)

Sookie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was _not_ what she expected when she'd casually mentioned to Eric that perhaps they could go away for a few days over the Christmas holidays. What with Jason deciding to go down to New Orleans with his drinking buddies, Tara back in New Orleans, and Lafayette playing house with Jesus, she'd have been all alone in Gran's big ol' farmhouse. She'd never missed Gran more than in the past few weeks. She came home every night to a cold, dark house that should've been filled with the aroma of Gran's famous sugar cookies; she woke and ate her dinner in silence, even though in her mind's eye she could picture Gran dancing around the kitchen to the holiday tunes on her little transistor radio. She hadn't even bothered to put up any decorations. A mini-vacation with Eric seemed just the ticket to chase away the blues. She'd just figured that maybe they could drive down to Florida and rent a beach house. She could relax and lie in the sun during the day and Eric could… well, he could show her how much he appreciated her tan every night.

She never expected to be spending half a day on an Anubis Airlines passenger jet to Stockholm, let alone transferring onto a teensy tiny prop plane practically the size of one of Mikey's tinker toys to travel to some remote hideaway in Öland. Which she'd only discovered was an island by looking it up on Eric's computer. She'd shivered just looking at the expected temperatures.

And then there'd been Pam…

_"You're bringing her_ where _?"_

_Eric had barely glanced up. "You heard me, Pam."_

_"If you're trying to drive her away, you can do that right here," Pam had said. "Just feed on her brother or snap the shifter's neck or something. No need to drag her to the ass end of the world so she can freeze her fairy tits off in some backwoods cabin in the middle of fuckin' nowhere."_

_"You haven't been there in years, Pamela," Eric had said as he closed the ledger with a snap. The sound seemed to echo in the empty bar._

_"For good reason," Pam had sniffed. "Does that place even have running water yet?"_

_"This is sufficient." Eric had ignored her last comment and nodded to the leather bound book filled with cramped little numbers. Sookie found she unconsciously leaned against him when he put his arm around her waist. Pam could be darned intimidating. "But I expect profits to be up by at least forty percent by the time I return," Eric had continued. "You know how much the breathers enjoy our Alternative Christmas."_

_"Yes, Eric, I do," Pam had drawled, "which is exactly why you should be here where you belong and not gallivanting off to some snow-covered eyesore—"_

_"Look," she remembered saying when she felt Eric tense, turning in his arms to look up at him, "it was just an idea. We don't have to go away anywhere! I mean, if Fangtasia gets real busy at Christmas then I understand if you have to stay in Shreveport."_

_Eric had simply pulled her closer, his lips brushing against her forehead. "Don't worry," he had said. "You're going to love Öland."  
_

Sookie shook her head to push away the memory. So far the only thing she loved was the warmth of her parka and she was still mostly thinking wistfully of that Florida beach. But she knew that Eric wanted her to see where he came from, though he would never state it quite so bluntly. It was important to him, so it was important to her.

That didn't mean she had to enjoy traveling in the dead of night during a freakin' blizzard in a toy-sized plane that shook every time the wind gusted. Which was every three minutes.

She jerked when Eric took her hand. Normally she enjoyed the feel of his cool fingers against her warm palm, but now she was so darned scared that her skin was probably icier than his. Plus, did this mini-plane even have heat?

"You are safe with me," Eric said.

"Sure. Uh huh." Sookie winced when a flurry of ice pellets hit the little window by her head. It was black as a coal miner's lung out there, yet she was still trying to scan the horizon for some sign of life. A cloud. A glimpse of land. Anything. 'Cause she was starting to think maybe they'd somehow drifted into the Twilight Zone. She kind of expected to see a gremlin on the wing any minute, ripping out power cables. 

She felt Eric's palm on her cheek, and reluctantly let him turn her away from her vigil. 

"Sookie," he said, "if anything were to happen to the plane…" She felt her eyes grow wide, and Eric hastily added, "which it will not – you do realize that I can fly."

Sookie blinked. Christ on a cracker, of course. _Eric could fly_. She blinked again, and then another spatter of rain-snow-ice pelted the window and she jumped and her gaze flicked nervously out at the darkness. "Even in this?" she asked.

"Even in this," Eric said reassuringly. He draped his arm around her and tugged her closer, urging her head onto his shoulder. His fingers played gently with her hair, tucking a long strand behind her ear, and she slowly began to relax. "I will never let anything happen to you, mitt hjärta."

Sookie nodded against his chin and snuggled closer. If Eric said he would protect her, then she could take that to the bank. 

She still kept half an eye out for gremlins, though.

* * *

Eric called the place they landed an airstrip. To Sookie, it looked more like a dirt road in the middle of a snowbank. Of course, Eric also called the monstrosity he was driving a car, but the treads and the height made it feel more like a tank. She made a mental note to take a photo of it for Jason once it was daylight. He'd be super impressed.

Eric handled it a little differently than his sports car back home, but Sookie still had no idea if they were making good time. Now that they were on the ground she could see the flat land stretching out a few feet beyond the vehicle's headlights, but the view wasn't much better than the plane. The inky darkness was just broken a little by the swirling snow. She knew she'd get lost within fifty feet if she wasn't in the vehicle. Of course, if she wasn't also in the company of a thousand year old vampire she'd be a lot more freaked out. 

Then Eric took the mutation of a car around a sharp turn, and Sookie gasped out loud.

A series of spotlights along a winding pathway highlighted Eric's home, shining brilliant white in the darkness. There were layers of intricate spires and pointed cupolas, a fenced bridge that arched over a frozen lake, a succession of sculptures as white as the building itself that seemed to caper in the drifting snow. Every square inch of the building was ornamented with whirls and curlicues, like one of those paper snowflakes she used to make as a child. Sookie knew she was gaping but couldn’t seem to shut her mouth any more than she could stop her eyes from trying to dart seventeen places at once. The house was simply overwhelming, a work of art more than a place to live.

Beside her, Eric shut off the vehicle and took her hand, and Sookie stumbled more than stepped from the car. She was vaguely aware that Eric had used his vampire speed to quickly do up the buttons on her coat, and dimly thought that she ought to tease him later about how rare it was for him to be putting her clothes _on_ instead of ripping them _off_. Right now the snow was blowing, ice pellets were pinging off her head and she couldn't really feel her feet, but she was still rooted to the spot.

"What do you think?" Eric asked.

She turned to him and smacked him on the arm. "Pam is a big, fat liar!"

Eric laughed. "I'll be sure to mention that when we return. She'll be especially interested that you're concerned about her weight," he said. He stepped up behind her and pulled her close, his arms winding around her waist, and bent to speak into her ear. "Pam hasn't been to my home here in many years. She hasn't seen the renovations."

"Renovations?" Sookie squeaked out. "Eric, this is a castle!"

She felt Eric shrug against her. "I do own a castle," he said, "in the north of Scotland. This is more of a chalet. And the renovations are fairly recent. I myself have not been here since I flew up to oversee the plans with the architect."

Sookie shook her head. While it shouldn't surprise her to find out that Eric owned a castle – a freakin' castle! – she was more interested in these 'renovations' that he spoke about. According to Pam he'd been perfectly happy with a small, run-down cabin that lacked even the basic amenities for centuries, so why suddenly transform the place into a beacon in the night? She might not be able to read Eric's mind, but she still knew when something was fishy in Denmark. Or Sweden, in this case. 

She narrowed her eyes and turned in his arms. "And just when did you start these 'renovations'?" she asked.

"Approximately one week after you exposed Longshadow as my embezzler," Eric answered. "I knew then that someday I would want to take you here."

Sookie's mouth dropped open again. This was apparently her night for uncontrollable gawking. "But Eric," she said when she could speak again, "that was… that was only the second time we even met." 

"Yes," Eric said. 

When her heart swelled, she knew what the Grinch must have felt like. Eric did this, created this magical fairytale castle, for _her_. When he barely knew her. When she still belonged to another. Because he had faith that someday, she would be his. Because he loved her practically from the very start.

"You are freezing, mitt hjärta," Eric said while she continued with the theme of the evening and simply gawped at him. His hands moved briskly over the arms of her coat in an attempt to warm her. "Come. The master bath is equipped with a Jacuzzi, and I've instructed Magnus to have a fire burning in the hearths of several of the rooms. There is champagne chilling as well, or we can fix you something warmer if you prefer. The kitchen has been fully stocked with the items you enjoy and Magnus will return tomorrow during my day rest to ensure that you have everything you—"

Sookie launched herself into his arms, cutting off whatever else he had to say. She didn't care about food or drinks or this Magnus person, and with Eric's arms around her and his lips eagerly meeting hers she felt plenty warm. She tried to snuggle closer, hating the big bulky parka that kept her from feeling his skin against hers. They needed to get inside if only so she could peel these layers off yet she didn't want to part from him. She was acutely aware of the time it had taken to get to their destination, and there simply weren't enough hours in the night to show him how much she loved him. 

Then she remembered something, and reluctantly dragged her mouth away from his.

"I read online," she said when she caught her breath, "that there are only a few hours of daylight in Sweden this time of year."

Eric inclined his head. "That is true," he said before he bent to resume attacking her lips. She gasped against him when he boosted her up, her legs coming up automatically to wrap around his waist while he used his speed to zip them up to the door and inside. She registered the blast of warm air, but then her parka and fuzzy cashmere sweater were in shreds on the hardwood floor and Eric's face was buried between her breasts, and when she shivered it had nothing to do with the temperature. And they still had hours and hours until dawn.

She was definitely going to love Öland.

**Author's Note:**

> mitt hjärta = my heart (at least, I hope so.)
> 
> For those of you reading "Encounters with the Dead", I am still working on the next chapter, I swear. It's been giving me so many fits that I thought the best way to get out of my 'ugh I can't write' doldrums was to work on something else for awhile. But I swear that the story will be finished by the New Year. Honest and for true!


End file.
